The effectiveness of therapeutic agents in general, is limited by patient compliance. At times, patient compliance is hindered by treatments that are inconvenient or cause patient discomfort. Importantly, certain therapeutic agents have deleterious effects if the plasma concentration thereof falls below a minimum concentration. Although some sustained release formulations are available which increase patient compliance, the majority employ poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) which requires hazardous organic solvents and high temperature for processing thereof. Not only are such organic solvents environmentally undesirable but residual amounts thereof may be present in the end-product. Furthermore, hydrolytic degradation byproducts of PLGA polymers are acids, which may cause inflammation and degradation of the active ingredient. Thus, there is a need for improved pharmaceutical compositions lacking potentially inflammatory degradation byproducts that provide sustained delivery of therapeutic agent(s) which are manufactured in a manner that minimizes the use of hazardous organic solvents.